2008-01-16

DLP wins Barbados election

Well, colour me surprised. The DLP won the Barbados elections in comprehensive fashion, 20-9, virtually reversing their previous election defeat. David Thompson after many years leading the Opposition, will become the next Prime Minister of Barbados. Congratulations to him and the DLP.

This loss must be tough to take for the BLP, who had known nothing but success at the polls for the past 14 years. There are several proud persons who have been stalwarts in Parliament for the entirety of their stint and even before, who may be wondering what now lies in their future, politically speaking, most notably outgoing P.M. Owen Arthur.

The biggest loser? Possibly Clyde Mascoll, former deputy head of the DLP who walked out on his party to join the BLP, served a stint as a Government Minister, was touted as a possible successor to either the P.M. or deputy P.M. role when Owen Arthur retired, and recently had to deal with serious allegations against him.

Finally, it must be some kind of unwritten rule in politics that when you unseat the incumbents, you're free to declare a public holiday. The PLP did that in Bermuda's '98 elections, and now the DLP's done the same thing in Barbados. Lucky Bajans ^_^